Net income declined to S$385.9 million ($310 million) in
the quarter ended June 30, from S$399 million a year earlier, it
said today in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
That’s higher than the S$187 million average of three analyst
estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales climbed 16 percent to
S$862.5 million.

“Singapore and China will remain as the group’s key
markets for new investments,” Liew Mun Leong, president and
chief executive officer at the Singapore-based developer, said
in the statement. “The underlying fundamentals of the housing
sector in the two markets remain sound, driven by new home
formation, rising urbanization and growing wealth creation.”

CapitaLand said it plans to start selling more homes at its
Singapore projects, the Interlace and Sky Habitat, a 509-unit
suburban project designed by architect Moshe Safdie. In China,
the group plans to put new units from Residences 77 in Beijing
on sale, as well as its existing projects, such as The Loft in
Chengdu and Dolce Vita in Guangzhou, according to the statement.

The stock dropped 0.3 percent to S$2.99 as of 9 a.m. in
Singapore trading, the first decline in seven days.

The developer will also expand its serviced apartment brand,
the Ascott, in key cities in Asia Pacific and Europe, it said.

CEO Liew said in June he will retire in a year from the
company he helped create almost 12 years ago.

More Apartments

The developer booked a lower S$287.9 million pretax gain in
the second quarter for the increase in the value of its holdings,
compared with S$372.7 million a year earlier, it said. The
company also recorded S$108.7 million from the divestment of two
Chinese malls and other assets, which was also lower than the
S$125.5 million from the sale of a Shanghai residential site and
other properties a year earlier, it said.

CapitaLand’s Singapore home sales climbed to 202 units in
the second quarter compared with 57 units in the previous
quarter, it said. Residential sales in China more than tripled
to 812 units from the first quarter.

The developer has about 2,500 homes under development and
expects to sell as many as 1,000 units a year over the next two
to three years, it said in its annual report. The developer’s
three core markets of Singapore, China and Australia accounted
for 90 percent of the group’s pretax profit in the second
quarter.

CapitaLand increased its investments last year, committing
a total of S$11 billion for new investments, an 83 percent
increase from the S$6 billion worth of investments made in 2010.

The company’s shares were unchanged at S$3 at the close in
Singapore yesterday. The stock has gained 37 percent this year,
compared with the 15 percent advance in Singapore’s benchmark
Straits Times Index.